The Federal Government has revealed plans to airlift Nigerians caught up in the ongoing crisis in Sudan. This Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, and her Foreign Affairs counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama, made the announcement yesterday. According to the FG, the evacuation of about 5,500 Nigerians, including students stranded in Khartoum and other crisis stricken cities in Sudan. According to a statement in Abuja by Dr. Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, the two ministers said government has already set in motion mechanism to ensure the safe extraction of Nigerians. The statement notes: “The ministers emphasise that concrete plans are underway to deploy, very shortly, air transport to evacuate all stranded Nigerian citizens, through identified safe transit areas, back home to Nigeria in safety and dignity.”
Deploring the growing humanitarian crisis, the statement urged citizens to reach out to the Nigerian mission in Sudan for further instructions or call the numbers: +2348035866773, +249961956284, +2348063636862, +249961956274 +2349066663493.
To facilitate the repatriation, the government has released N150m for hiring 40 buses to convey its desperate citizens from Sudan to Cairo in Egypt.
The money was said to be paid to an undisclosed transport company on Tuesday at 12:37 pm by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) through the National Emergency Management Agency NEMA.
The Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, who confirmed welcomed development on Tuesday stated that the payment had been made, noting that the evacuees would take off on Wednesday morning.
The evacuation is taking place as a result of the three-day ceasefire beginning midnight Tuesday declared by the Sudanese armed forces and the Rapid Support Force.
Foreign countries are taking advantage of the temporary suspension of hostilities to move their nationals from Sudan as deadly fighting between the two forces which claimed hundreds of lives entered the second week.
Meanwhile, the federal government has asked Nigerians trapped in Sudan to avoid dangerous trips to the borders in a bid to escape the country.
The government issued the warning in a joint statement signed by Janet Olisa, a director in the ministry of foreign affairs, and Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, a permanent secretary in the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development.
The ministries expressed concern over the “dire humanitarian situation” in Sudan and empathised with the civilian population caught up in the ongoing crisis between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
They said plans are in motion to evacuate stranded citizens and asked for calm and maintenance of constant communication.